


Siren's Song

by Writer207



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mythical Beings & Creatures, kind of rushed writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-10-05 12:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17325074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writer207/pseuds/Writer207
Summary: The Legends go to Boston, 2003, to find a Fugitive that has been linked with multiple disappearances. In the meantime, Time Master Rip Hunter goes to the same place because one of said disappearances has a great impact on the future timeline. What could go wrong?Or pre-series Rip appears somewhere in season 4.





	1. Boston, 2003

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story might feel rushed, but I didn't want to unnecessarily drag this out.

A series of mysterious disappearances plagues Boston in 2003. Men and women alike proclaimed they were going out for a drink or a date and never returned. Most were never found, while some ended up in the waters of the Charles River. The police believed they were suicides since there was no other DNA found on the person and foul play was always ruled out because they had no enemies. Their friends and families vehemently denied their loved one would ever take their own life, but the police did not have any reason not to think about suicide. It was a mystery never solved.

Until the Legends came down from the time stream to fix the problem, as the disappearances have been caused by a Fugitive – in other words, this was their problem to deal with. They descended in the city and decided to split up and cover as much ground as they possibly could to find their Fugitive. 

Mick and John were already not up to the job. Last night, they had decided with Charlie to get drunk for no apparent reason. The men were still dealing with a killer headache while Charlie could still function. With the amount she chucked down in a day, it would be no surprise if alcohol had replaced the blood in her body. Charlie and Ray were going to one out of two most common areas where the men and women lived who disappeared while Zari and Sara were going to a bar near the waterfront, where some of the men and women often came to grab a drink.

At the time they arrived in Boston, two men and one woman had already fallen victim to the creature already – but since they were set to die later that year, their early deaths did not immensely change the timeline. Now it was up to the Legends to find the Fugitive and stop it before it could make another victim that may gravely impact the timeline.

* * *

After spending some time in the bar at the waterfront and looking around for anything out of the ordinary and after finding out there was nothing there, Sara and Zari gave up for the day and decided to come back to the area later. They were confident in their ability to find the Fugitive – they just had to give it some time.

“That was a bust,” Zari said, a disappointed look on her face. She would have liked to have found their Fugitive in the bar, or at least to have heard Charlie or Ray tell them they had found it. They looked at every face in the bar and talked to half of them, but they still had nothing. They did meet one guy whose friend had gone missing but that was about the extent of their success.

“We’ll find it,” Sara said, “It can’t hide forever.”

“Stop right there,” a familiar voice behind them said. Zari and Sara stopped in their tracks and glanced at one another. They recognized the voice and hadn’t thought they would ever hear it again.

“Crap,” Sara muttered and she and Zari turned around. Five yards behind their position stood a Time Master who did not seem to match with the time he had been sent to by his bosses or where he had gone to on his own accord.   He wore a long dark brown trench coat and pointed his six-shooter energy gun at the two ladies. There was not even a glimpse of recognition on his face – he watched them as he would anyone he considered an enemy.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Rip Hunter asked them.

For a moment, the two women stayed silent. A wide smile appeared on Sara’s face and she clasped her hands together. 

“Good job, Rip,” she said, “You really are good at this.”

Both Rip and Zari stared at her with a confused look on their faces. Rip racked his brain about where he possibly could have met these two and lowered his gun while Zari turned her head to Zari with a glare that could easily be translated to are-you-kidding-me?

“What are you doing?” She whispered low enough so that Rip wouldn’t hear it.

“Just go with it,” Sara whispered back in the same low voice. Rip regained his confidence and posture and remembered he could be dealing with enemies who would want to confuse him.

“How do you know my name?” He asked. He wasn’t any less hostile, though his voice suggested he was more open-minded towards them and maybe wanted to engage in a conversation with them. Them knowing his name intrigued him.

“I am Sara Lance and this is Zari Tomaz,” Sara said as she pointed at herself and Zari. “We are working for the Time Bureau.”

“I don’t believe I have ever heard of it,” Rip responded in a skeptic tone. He probably still believed his bosses did not keep too many secrets from him, only the necessary ones.

“Of course you haven’t,” Sara continued and hoped her bluffing was enough to convince him, “We are a separate branch of time institution. We are working with the Time Masters to deal with threats to the timeline that are more dangerous than time pirates. People have vanished when they originally shouldn’t have and something extremely dangerous is behind it.”

Rip had lowered his gun and had put it away. at least he trusted the two ladies enough not to want to shoot them or treat them as enemies anymore.

“What something?” He asked.

“That’s classified,” Sara said. Rip was not ready to learn what was truly going on here. The reasons would amount to spoilers for a future that he never lived to see. “All you need to know is that this dangerous individual needs to be stopped at all costs.”

“It seems we’re looking for the same thing,” Rip said. He finally approached the two Legends and closed the distance with an amicable posture. “We might be able to catch your fugitive faster if we combined resources. How about we share intel on your ship?”

Zari and Sara glanced at each other and neither seemed to really know what they should answer to the proposition. They could use the help, but it was just as easy to resolve the problem without Rip’s help, as well. Their doubts soon shifted to whether or not working together with him was going to mess up the timeline now Rip has prematurely met not only Zari but also Sara Lance. He was still old enough to work on his own and the murder of his wife and child could be mere weeks, possibly days away from his point of view.

“Is there a problem?” Rip asked when they didn’t immediately answer. He’d noticed the tension and indecision hanging in the air. Within a split second, Zari took over the conversation from Sara.

“Not at all!” she said in a light panic, Sara staring at her while she spoke. “We’d love to work with you.”

A modest smile appeared on his face. Sara had not done anything to stop Zari from talking – this Rip was suspicious and had not acted very trusting towards the Legends when he had first brought them together. Sara wanted to avoid Rip becoming suspicious of them now by not taking Zari aside to discuss a strategy in not telling Rip what his future held.

“We’ll leave in just a minute,” Sara said, “Let me just tell my team that you are coming.” She reached up to her ear to activate the comms.

Rip frowned. “So it’s not just the two of you?”

“There’s six of us,” Zari explained and Rip nodded in understanding. She noticed that he had not been talking about his own team. He had to be working on his own now, but for how long had he been alone? And for how long will he be on his own until he recruits the Legends?

“Alright team, listen up,” Sara said in a feigned peppy voice, hoping the wording and the tone would make the others listen in carefully. Or, at least she hoped Ray and Charlie would listen; Mick and John would probably listen passively and they wouldn’t respond to her comments, either. “Zari and I came across Time Master Rip Hunter.”

For a moment, there came no answer. Sara thought she could continue talking, but then someone answered.

“Rip’s here?” Ray said, sounding shocked. He, too, hadn’t expected Rip Hunter of all people to show up, either.

Sara nodded, though Ray could impossibly see it. “Yes, he is. One of the Fugitive’s victims must have had quite an impact on the timeline. He came to check it out and now… we’re working together.”

“Does he know it’s us?” Ray asked. That was a good question: did he know they were his future teammates?

“No, he doesn’t,” Sara responded. It might get them into trouble, but those were worries for later. “We will regroup at our timeship and exchange information there.”

“I’m on my way,” Charlie chimed in for the first and last time.

“There’s one more ominous alley up ahead,” Ray said, “I’m going to quickly take a look.”

“And then you come back,” Sara pressed. It may not be a wise idea for any one of them to go about the area without a partner.

“Copy that,” Ray said and then the comm line went silent. Sara imagined Charlie meandering back in the Waverider’s general direction. She imagined John and Mick either scrambling to get dressed or to groan and hope they would have enough time to slowly get their clothes on, if they weren’t already dressed. 

Sara turned to Zari and Rip again, who had been patiently waiting for her to inform the other team members.

“Shall we go?” Rip asked. Sara nodded confidently.

Hopefully, this would all go smoothly.

* * *

Ray had been walking down a wide street in downtown Boston. So far, he had not found anything of value. Very quickly, Charlie had decided that splitting up would mean they would cover more ground and Ray had agreed. He had spent the rest of the time on his own. he decided against calling Charlie – if she found something, she’d let them all know.

“Alright, team, listen up,” Sara said rather enthusiastically over the comms. Ray stopped walking down the wide street to listen. The way she said it was odd, and he feared something was going on. Maybe she had found something.

“Zari and I came across Time Master Rip Hunter.” Ray frowned. Well, that’s not good. was he supposed to have visited this place before forming the Legends or was it the Fugitive that had drawn him here? These and many more questions he couldn’t outright ask ran through his mind.

“Rip’s here?” Ray eventually asked.

“Yes, he is.” Ray ran his fingers through his hair while Sara continued talking. This was bad and potentially harmful. “One of the Fugitive’s victims must have had quite an impact on the timeline. He came to check it out and now… we’re working together.”

“Does he know it’s us?” Ray asked. The way he was going to act around Rip would be determined by when this Rip came from. He wouldn’t particularly like it, but to protect Rip’s personal timeline of events – and consequently, the Legends’ – he’d have to.

“No, he doesn’t,” Sara responded. “We will regroup at our timeship and exchange information there.”

So they had bumped into a Rip Hunter from before he had created the Legends. This gave them another opportunity to screw up the timeline, and an easy one at that – one slip-up would be more than enough.

“I’m on my way,” Charlie said. Ray was surprised to hear she was actually going to return right away instead of walking off to spend a little bit more time in Boston. Who knows what made her decide to follow an immediate order, especially since she did not know the Time Masters or Rip Hunter. Someone will have to explain that to her…

“There’s one more ominous alley up ahead,” Ray said, “I’m going to quickly take a look.”

“And then you come back,” Sara said and Ray nodded.

“Copy that.” Ray moved away from the wide street and walked closer to what he considered the ominous alley. While he’d been talking to Sara, the strange noise came from that particular alley. Dense fog rolled over Boston, obscuring most of his view. It was hard to see any further than five feet into the fog.

The noise was most audible when he stood right at the entrance. Now he could hear it more clearly, he realized it was music. It was an upbeat melody with a sorrowful tune. He must have heard it somewhere before and yet, he was certain he had never heard anything like this before, so hauntingly beautiful and captivating. As he was paying attention to the music, he barely noticed he was caught up in the fog, with nothing around him but silhouettes against the white.

Someone bumped into Ray. The Legend blinked a couple of times, feeling as if he’d just woken up. The fog wasn’t as dense as he thought before and the music seemed quieter now he didn’t focus on it. The man who had nearly crashed into him looked longingly into the fog with glazed eyes. 

Ray reacted instinctively and pulled the man away from the alley. All of his energy went into this one smal movement. The man was unwilling at first, but Ray’s efforts were well worth it. He, too, seemed to wake from a deep slumber; his eyes were no longer glazed and he regained his common sense again.

“There’s a gas leak there,” Ray told him. “Firefighters are on their way. You might want to take another route.” He pointed to the east and the man listened to him. It saved his life, and maybe that of others. When people learn there’s a gas leak and that someone’s already been called for it, they might stay away.

“Okay, it’s definitely around here,” Ray said in the comms, hoping that someone was listening to him now. There came no reaction, so he knew Sara and Zari weren’t listening to him. Hopefully, Gideon was recording this, just in case. “Current position is somewhere on West Seventh Street. I’m going to investigate.”

Ray might have told them more. However, the melody returned and this time, it demanded all of his attention. For some reason, he immediately shut off the comm device when he heard the tune again. Each step he took deeper into the fog and towards the melody was one where he lost a bit more agency. He could not stop himself. 

He’d already lost when he heard that lovely music.

From out of the fog, the silhouette of a person appeared as the music intensified. Ray approached it.


	2. Waverider

Their walk through the city towards the Waverider would have been a silent one if it weren't for Rip. He asked about a lot of different things and Zari and Sara answered those questions to the best of their abilities without giving him any spoilers. At that moment, their biggest concern was making sure Rip would not know their timeship was actually his. They had tried to convince Rip to go to his own Waverider, but it turned out the Legends' Waverider was closer to their position than where Rip had parked his. It was also more convenient that he came to their ship instead of the other way around.

"There's our timeship," Sara said. The reflector shields that had made the timeship invisible deactivated and it revealed itself to the trio – an anxious moment for Zari and Sara. They glanced at Rip, who tilted his head to the left and looked at the ship in confusion and recognition.

"It looks like mine," he said.

"We buy the same models with our payment," Zari quickly said. Sara nodded to reinforce the swift lie.

"You might see a lot more similarities once we are inside," Sara added before she, Zari, and Rip entered the Waverider. As they passed through the rather familiar hallways, Rip seemed to inspect every little detail, often stopping or slowing down to look at something. This concerned Zari and Sara, who were begging and praying that Rip would never find out.

"So, what is it that you do exactly?" Rip asked after a short while.

"We scan the timeline for anomalies caused by creatures that are not from this Earth," Zari replied. Rip nodded in understanding but he still had a follow-up question.

"And how are you any different from the Time Masters?"

"We are…" Sara began but stopped to look for the right words. What even were the right words? "…more chaotic. We play off of each other and whenever something unusual pops up on our radar, we take it in and send it back to hell."

To hell? "What do you mean by 'unusual'?"

Just as they were about the enter the bridge, a pink woman with long brown hair in a ponytail and three breasts passed the three, wearing a warrior's attire and carrying a large sword on her. Zari and Sara barely paid attention to her but Rip followed her with his gaze. If there was anything that had sprung to mind when he said 'unusual', this had not been it.

"What was that?" Rip asked as they walked onto the bridge.

"That was one of Mick's creations," Zari said, having no intention of telling him who Mick was – he'd meet him soon enough. "She's not dangerous."

A worried and uncomfortable settled on his face. suddenly it seemed he wasn't happy to be on this ship anymore, with Garima and other possible 'monsters' freely walking around on the ship. He walked onto the bridge and towards the console, half-expecting to see a similar creature walking around.

"Ah, Rip!" A voice came from behind him. rip turned around. A blond man in a trench coat approached him, a welcoming grin on his face. the man grabbed Rip's hand and shook it. "Welcome aboard, mate." He spoke with a British accent. "John Constantine, master of the occult. It's a pleasure."

"The occult," Rip said in disbelief, a confused look in his eyes. He had seen a lot over the years, and especially future tech did not distract him or confused him anymore. Still, he hadn't come across someone who spoke about the occult as if it was a natural part of their life and not some sort of fairytale. Then again, if anyone was dabbling in the occult, that man definitely looked the part.

"With leprechauns, unicorns and fairy godmothers running around, we might need his help," Charlie said. Rip nodded in understanding, noting the new team member that just walked onto the bridge. The grin was immediately wiped off of John's face as he looked hurt at Charlie.

"Might?"

"Yeah," Charlie said with a light-hearted air. "They've still got me, too." Charlie shot a mischievous grin at him and John just sighed and decided to not to go up against her. this was just a one-off comment he did not like very much. He could get back to her for that comment another time.

"Charlie," the former shapeshifter introduced herself to Rip. Before Rip could do the polite thing and tell her his name, Mick walked in. he stopped in his tracks when he saw Rip. He'd been warned that Rip was going to come, but it was still a shock to see him alive and kicking again. Mick had only stopped for a second before he made his way to the wall so he could lean against it during this meeting. Today was a lazy day and he did not feel like doing much, despite having to find a Fugitive in Boston.

"That's Mick," Zari introduced the grumpiest Legend.

"I figured," Rip said. He turned his head to Sara. "I thought you said there were six of you."

"Ray should be here shortly," Sara replied. He was going to check out a suspicious-looking alleyway. He was probably already on his way back to the Waverider. Maybe he was running so hard he had forgotten to tell them he was on his way. There was nothing to worry about, he was coming back.

"We can start without him," Rip said, but with no hint of disrespect towards the missing Legends. They were going to lose less time if they didn't wait for Ray to return. Besides, they could always brief him later about this meeting. He looked at the group gathered around the console, which displayed the current news reporting about the disappearances. "Do you have any theories on what's going on here?"

John immediately spoke loudly and clearly, so that he drew everyone's attention and so that Mick would still be able to hear him. "We are looking for a creature that has no difficulty luring people in, since there are never any signs that the victims struggle or have been kidnapped. There also never seems to be an incentive for these people to quit their lives."

"So they're going willingly," Rip then drew conclusions.

"Something is making them come willingly," Charlie said. More often than not, these people had no choice in the matter. Still a bit pissed off by her earlier comment, John quickly drew the conversation back to himself. it may be a way to show off to Rip that the Legends did need him and the knowledge he provided.

"Whatever it is, it likes dropping bodies as well as keeping the victims for themselves. This makes our Fugitive a lot harder to identify. Not many creatures that we know of display this kind of behavior."

"I've narrowed down the list to three," Charlie said. "First off—"

A shrill beep came from Rip's wristband. Charlie stopped talking and looked with curiosity at the newcomer, as did everyone else. What did the beep mean? Rip brought the wrist up and looked at the wristband. Upon seeing the message, he frowned.

"That's odd," he muttered under his breath.

"What is it?" Sara asked the Time Master.

"Gideon just sent me a message. The timeline has changed." Rip looked up from the wristband as he lowered his arm again. "The person I came here for is no longer in danger. The timeline is back on track."

"That's good news," Mick said. He hoped it would result in less work for them – and for him in general. If things kept up the way they were going, this might be the easiest Fugitive catch to this date.

"But nothing else has changed," Zari commented, reading through the reporting on the case as displayed by the console. The number of victims was still the same, both for the missing and the deceased. "Shouldn't at least the numbers have changed, too?"

"Not if someone else took that person's place," Charlie said and all eyes turned to her again. They hadn't thought they would ever see a worried look on her face. "Ray was only going to check on one alley, right? Shouldn't he be back by now?"

Silence fell in the room as realization dawned upon the other Legends and Rip. Ray was trustworthy enough to count on the fact that he would inspect the alley and return to the Waverider with his findings. The fact that he hadn't returned yet, was strange and disturbing.

"Bollocks," John cursed under his breath.

"Gideon, are there any pictures of the victims?" Sara asked and she turned her head to the console. Next to her, Rip Hunter also focused on what Gideon was about to show them.

 _"Yes, there_ _are, captain,"_ Gideon said as she put up the pictures. There were three mugshots, professional pictures and some granular pictures from security cameras. There were other pictures as well, from the missing that were later confirmed dead after their bodies were found in the Charles River. One of those victims had a familiar face, namely that of Ray Palmer.

"That's not good," Rip said, the only one to vocalize his concerns. The others were too shocked or too surprised to react to seeing Ray as one of the confirmed victims, seeing his limp body on the shore and headline saying another victim – this time, a nameless one – had been fished out of the water. The gravity of the situation dawned upon them now they lost – or were about to lose – one of their own.

Rip turned to Sara. "I would like to help you out."

"Thanks for the offer, but we can handle this," Sara said and Rip nodded.

"I never said you couldn't," he defended himself. "I'm just saying you are one man down and that… creature, whatever it is, is still out there. If anything, I'd like to help you find your teammate and kill the creature before it can do any more harm to the timeline."

Sara took a long look at him. On one hand, they could easily do this without Rip. Yet, in that fantasized scenario, Ray was still part of their crew. If she did accept Rip's offer, there was a bigger chance he might find out the truth about what is going to happen to his family and in his future life.

"Welcome to the team," Sara said, placing one hand briefly on his shoulder. Then she turned her attention to the rest of the team, a satisfied Rip next to her.

"We'll split up. Charlie, Rip, and I will look for Ray near the river. John, Mick, Zari, you're going to the alley and find the Fugitive before it makes more victims." She looked at each Legend, who confirmed with a nod that they knew what they had to do, each of them determined to either fight the Fugitive or to find Ray.

"Let's do this," Sara said.


	3. Charles River

The two teams left the Waverider almost immediately. Zari, John, and Mick go to investigate the alley where Ray had gone missing. Rip, Charlie, and Sara were going to the waterfront in the meantime. The Charles River was a staple of Boston, flowing into the Atlantic Ocean and being the main crime scene of the 'suicides' that were most likely tied to the Fugitive they were looking for. There were a couple of nice parks built next to the water and inhabitants could enjoy a nice evening walk alongside the rider if they wanted to. These places were the first spots where the second team was going to look for Ray before he jumped into the river.

Their first stop was the Nashua street park: a rather narrow park that couldn't be any longer than 200 yards sitting across the Boston jail. The team had to cross the old Charles River Dam to reach the park and start their search.

"Are you sure about this location?" Charlie asked Sara and Rip. They had decided to start at the old dam and work their way to the other side of the park, as well as returning along the same path and double-check it, just in case Ray had already jumped.

Rip nodded. "If both Gideons say people have drowned in this river and were found along these lengths, then we should probably be here." The captain placed his hands in his pockets and looked at the water. The rays of the nice November sun reflected on it and made it painful to look at for a prolonged amount of time. "The question is, has he already jumped or not?"

"Ray would not just jump into the water," Sara noted. As if she was trying to convince herself that Ray was going to fight back, that he was going to hesitate just a little longer, that he was not going to jump even though the newspaper already confirmed it.

Rip sighed and turned to Sara with a compassionate look in his eyes which bordered on indifferent. If Sara didn't know any better, she would think Rip could not care less. He was stating facts and looked at the situation from an objective point of view because he was the only one who could be objective.

"As your friend said," Rip said, using a softer tone this time, "he probably did not do it willingly. But that doesn't mean that he will not jump."

"Let's hope we can find him before it's too late," Charlie said. They should focus on finding Ray at this moment, not discuss whether or not he was actually going to jump or not.

"If it is too late, you can still try to pinpoint the exact moment he will jump and go to that specific time," Rip said.

"Yeah," Sara commented, nodding. That was still a possibility, too. Without saying another word, they walked alongside the river and looked for a sign of Ray in the water or on land in silence. Watching the water proved to be harder than they first imagined since the water was turbid and not very clear. Looking around on land wasn't easy, either, for people spent their afternoons in the park and Ray could easily be commanded to hide between these people to reach the waterline.

Eventually, Rip walked in front of Charlie and Sara. He tried to keep an eye on the people mostly, believing that if Ray had jumped, they would not be able to see the body into the water. Sara and Charlie walked a couple yards behind him. They looked over everything that Rip saw in front of him, but also looked at the people behind them, just in case Ray would be jumping in behind their backs. This was also a perfect opportunity for Sara and Charlie to somewhat privately discuss their visitor.

"How much time did you spend with him?" Charlie asked.

"Three years," Sara responded. She already had an answer ready, knowing this particular question was going to come up one way or another.

"That's a lot," the former shape-shifter commented. Sara shrugged in response. "When did he leave?"

"He didn't exactly leave," Sara said. she had her eyes mostly on Rip's back when she spoke. "He died six months before you joined. He sacrificed himself to buy us more time to find a way to kill Mallus."

"That's brave," Charlie said. she had never met Mallus or anyone of the sort in person, but the rumors were enough to throw her off and to make her afraid of the demon and everyone else in Hell. "What exactly was he doing on the ship?"

It seemed everyone on the Waverider had their job or ability that made them stand out from the rest. Zari had her amulet, Mick had his gun and so forth. Given this team's dynamics and that she had no knowledge about the previous three years during which Rip was probably around, Charlie did not know how Rip, as a practically normal guy, would fit in this team.

"He was the captain in the first year," Sara said. "After that, he sometimes came back until he founded the Time Bureau. The last time we saw him, he died."

"I don't like him," Charlie responded. She could not exactly pinpoint what made her dislike him, so she blamed it on his general disposition and the way he acted around them. It must be that Time Master arrogance that had rubbed off on him.

"He could be annoying from time to time," Sara confessed, a smile on her face. Charlie had no idea what Sara was smiling about, but it must be a fond memory.

"If you could stop chatting away and actually help me look for your friend?" Rip asked them. There was no saying how much of the conversation he had listened, or if he only heard they had been talking. Sara and Charlie assumed he had not heard any specific details – if he had, he probably would have asked about those.

"But he always got the job done when it was needed," Sara finished her thought and they continued on their way. They had almost reached the other side of the park; they were soon halfway along the way they were going through this park.

SPLASH! Something behind Sara fell into the water after they had looked behind them. More likely, with such a splash, someone had just jumped into the river. Sara did not hesitate when she heard it. She ran towards the spot, the weight leaving ripples in the water. Sara dived after him without giving it as much as a second thought.

Charlie and Rip, as well as several onlookers, watched from the riverside and hoped to see something. However, the water was turbid and it was impossible to see anything beyond the surface level. Sara would have to be extremely lucky to find Ray in the water.

After what felt like minutes, Sara resurfaced and took a big gasp of air. But without Ray.

"Did you find him?" Charlie asked. She would never admit it out loud, but she did worry about the ever-optimistic member of their team.

"Not yet," Sara answered before immediately taking another big breath and disappearing under the water again. When Charlie turned to Rip, she noticed he was hyper-focused on what was going to happen. She could only guess what was going on in his mind, and her guesses probably were not very accurate.

Time seemed to slow down for the occasion. Every second another minute seemed to have passed. After a while, Charlie was certain they should have returned to the surface by now. How long had they been under water? How long could they hold their breath? And how much longer did Ray have before the water claimed him as his next victim?

Finally, Sara appeared in their sight again. Along with her, she had pulled Ray from the depths of the water. She made sure to keep his head above the water while she swam him back to the park. At the riverside, the onlookers applauded Sara's actions while Charlie took a breath in relief.

"So that's Ray?" Rip asked.

"Yes, he is," Charlie responded.

"Help me out," Sara said. She was barely staying above the water herself while also trying to keep Ray's head above the water. Rip immediately rushed to the riverside and grabbed Ray by the armpits to drag him onto land. Charlie helped Sara to get out of the water and handed Sara her jacket, to keep her warm and to provide a little bit of comfort.

Rip placed Ray on the grass and then performed CPR on him. The ladies joined him on the grass as he was about to give him mouth-to-mouth. Before he could, Ray coughed up the water that had entered his lungs. Other than that reaction, he stayed unconscious, but at least he was breathing and his heart was beating.

"He needs medical attention," Rip said, still looking at Ray. Sara nodded in agreement. Who knows what else happened to his body and his brains while he was in the river.

"Back to the ship it is," Charlie then commented. Only Gideon could help Ray at this moment. Some of the onlookers offered to call an ambulance, but the Legends told them they were going to take Ray away themselves. Besides, he would get the best treatment in the Waverider instead of the best hospital of Boston or anywhere else on this globe in this time period.

Rip took off his trench coat and along with Sara, he packed Ray up with it. Rip and Charlie were going to carry him back to the Waverider – Sara had already done enough by jumping in the river to save him. she would have carried him, too, if the two others had let her. Instead, she led them along the way and contacted the other team to tell them about Ray's current situation. 

* * *

Zari, Mick, and John had had no luck finding anything at the location where Ray had been. While they had found nothing yet, they had not seen everything yet, either. They still had to reach the alley where he had gone missing, but they had decided to check out which route Ray had taken. Well, Zari and John had made the decision. Mick just trailed behind them and hoped to find something to burn.

"We've got him," Sara said through the comm device, breaking the relative silence. Zari, Mick, and John all received the message, and Zari sighed in relief.

"That's great news," she responded and glanced at the man. They did not show any outward signs of compassion or relief for Ray having been saved. Mick did not exactly seem to care too much (but there was no telling what was going on in his head) and John must have known that Ray was going to be saved either way. "Where was he?"

"In the river," Sara responded. "He had only just jumped in. We're taking him back to the Waverider now."

"He jumped in?" John asked. It was a reaction and a rhetorical question than a true question for Sara to answer. Ray had jumped in? Seeing the newspaper picture projected on the console, he had thought someone – such as their Fugitive – had brought him there and violently pushed him in, or they stood aside and watched while blackmailing Ray to make that leap. But it seemed that Ray had been the one to make the final decision.

Not willingly, John thought to himself. He made a note to keep an eye on their surroundings at all times. an adversary who can make you jump into a river without a second thought was an evil and dangerous adversary.

They reached the alley where Ray had previously been, the last location from where the tracker in his comm device transmitted to the Waverider before Ray had shut it off. The alleyway itself was nothing out of the ordinary. It was just a plain alley somewhere in Boston, like many others. Some fog rolled in, but it did not add to the general "evil" atmosphere they had been looking for.

Then the music started. The three dropped whatever they were doing and turned their heads to the alley that was still filling up with fog. The tunes came from the other side, from somewhere within the fog.

"Are you guys hearing this?" Zari asked and she glanced at Mick. The arsonist nodded and kept his eyes on the alley as if he would hear the music better if he just stared at it. John himself heard it, too, and he stared at the fog with a tilted head and a contemplative look on his face.

The pieces of the puzzle fell together perfectly. All the different pieces of information came together naturally. A creature that could easily make you do things you wouldn't normally do, such as jumping into rivers – especially jumping into rivers – just confirmed by Ray's behavior. That may have been prompted by the music they were hearing, music that counted as the final piece of the puzzle, music that made John finally realize what they had to go up against.

"Stuff your ears," he said. "Now!" He took some paper tissues out of his pocket and ripped them apart and started molding them in little balls he could push into his ears. If he still had enough time, at least…

"What?" Zari frowned. She hadn't realized the nature of the Fugitive yet. And neither had Mick, but that was to be expected.

"It's a siren!" He explained, not looking up from his little project. The music grew louder and his hands started to tremble. As the volume of the music increased, it would claim more and more of his attention. It was already distracting him from properly stuffing his ears.

"A siren?" Mick said. He sounded distracted as if he did not care too much. That, or he repeated it for the sake of confirmation that yes, it was a siren and he did not hear this wrong.

John glanced up from the tiny paper balls for a second. Neither Zari nor Mick seemed to have taken notice of the frantic nature of his reaction. He figured they weren't going to start anytime soon either, for with nothing to do, it would be easier for the music and the siren to demand all of their attention.

Warning them may not be very helpful anymore. He needed to focus on rolling these tiny paper balls. However, his hands trembled so much he dropped the tissues and what he had been trying to create. The music volume had increased again and when he stared at the fog, a silhouette appeared.

So much to do. So little time.

"Bollocks!" John forcefully closed his eyes and quickly recited a short Latin that would temporarily make him deaf until he recited the counter-spell. For this specific situation, it was a great temporary solution, one he should've come up with before he tried to create paper barriers with his bare hands.

When John opened his eyes, the world around him was deadly silent and the siren stepped from out of the fog into the light. It had its eyes on the three Legends and slowly focused on everyone in front of them. It wasn't easy to focus on the face, for the fog covered most of it. Still, John caught a glimpse of its face. The androgynous humanoid in front of them, neither male nor female, held its mouth tightly shut. Wherever the music came from, it wasn't the mouth. When John turned to his team members, they both had a glazed look in their eyes.

John turned to the siren, who eyed him suspiciously. That was John's cue to grab one of the Legends and get the hell out of this place. Better flee with one Legend than allowing both to stay under its curse.

He grabbed Zari and, just in case, whispered a quick spell. At least, he thought he was whispering. Either way, John was able to finish the spell before Zari turned to him. That glazed look did not disappear or change in any way. The spell had not woken her up from the spell – she was already far gone.

She called upon her powers and used the winds to slam him into the wall with the force of a small truck. John fell to the ground and groaned in pain, not having enough strength to even push himself up properly. He forced himself to at least lift his head – because of the nature of the threat, not being able to see what was going to happen was a real issue when he also had deafened himself and could not hear the threat coming.

John finally lifted his head. Mick was towering over him, and the glazed look did not differ much from the one that was usually on his face. There were just enough differences to know something was seriously wrong with him.

John could not say or do anything in his defense when Mick drew his heat gun. However, he did not fire it. He used it to knock Constantine out and immediately, the world around him turned to black.


	4. Waverider (again)

From out of the fog, the silhouette of a person appeared as the music intensified. Ray approached it. Then everything went black. When he woke up again, he was in a familiar environment again, but he panicked. His breathing was fast and uneven and he hastily looked around, never able to focus his gaze on anything longer than a few seconds. As if someone had just abruptly pulled him out of an exceptionally horrible nightmare.

"Easy, Ray!" Sara said. She firmly grabbed his shoulders. "Easy."

He focused on her, which helped to calm down. He still looked around, but less hastily. He recognized the med bay and realized he'd been hooked up with Gideon's local medical database. The nightmare – the one she pulled him out of, the one he couldn't quite remember – was over. He took a couple of deep breaths and leaned back in the chair, relaxed. It was over.

"How are you feeling?" Charlie asked. She was there, too. It somehow comforted Ray that these two cared enough to be with him when he woke up. he could've figured Charlie also stayed because he had valuable information, coming from his first-hand experience with the Fugitive.

"That was awful," Ray muttered, more to himself than to Sara and Charlie. As soon as the words left his mouth, memories of what had happened flooded back into his mind at break-neck speed. Flashes of imagery and feelings hit him hard and for a brief moment, he was back in the water and sank, not even attempting to go back to the surface or to hold his breath. It was extremely unnatural to feel how your lungs are filled with water and not react to it in any natural way.

"Ray?" Sara asked, concerned about her teammate. The experience still affected him. He was shaking and he was distracted by the bad memories.

"I had no control. She … he… they?" He stared briefly with a confused look in his eyes at Sara and Charlie – what was the best way to address the androgynous person that had commanded him? "They made me do it." His voice broke.

"They?" Sara asked, but Ray either did not hear it or was too affected to stop talking now.

"I couldn't figure out… I didn't know what they wanted from me. I don't remember much at all, but there was some… music."

"Music?" Charlie asked, interested in this tiny detail. Ray turned his head to her and nodded in confirmation.

"Yes. Beautiful music. I had to listen. I couldn't stop listening. I couldn't move my own body anymore." He paused. His mind flashed back to his experience in the river. He gulped and continued with an unsteady voice. "They… they made me go to the river and jump. I-I couldn't stop myself." His heart rate increased and the panic he had felt in the water returned.

Sara placed a comforting hand on Ray's shoulder in the hope that it would calm him down.

"You're safe now," she said. It did calm him, but his mind was still with the androgynous fugitive that had made him their slave.

"We gotta find them," Ray said, ready to stand up from the chair and to lead the hunt for this fugitive himself. But Sara still had her hand on his shoulder and she pushed him back into the chair.

"You almost drowned," she said in an authoritative tone. "You're not going anywhere right now."

"You should rest," Charlie added. Ray nodded.

"Yeah, maybe I should," he said, his voice a bit softer than before. They were right. He was in no state of finding the fugitive and being controlled wasn't exactly fun – but man, was it exhausting! He leaned back into the chair and shifted until he found a comfortable position. "If something pops up, let me know."

"Sure," Sara responded. She and Charlie left the med bay when Ray closed his eyes, this slumber being partly encouraged by Gideon gently putting him under. Sara's gaze lingered on him until the doors of the med bay closed. The captain sighed audibly and she and Charlie made their way towards the library. The sooner they figured out what the fugitive was, the better.

"What an experience," Sara said.

"I wouldn't want to be in his place," Charlie responded. It wasn't so much the drowning that did it, but not having any control of what someone else was doing with her body. She already lost her ability to shape-shift, she wouldn't want to lose control of the one body she had access to as well.

"We've got to find out where it's hiding."

"And where the others are," Charlie reminded her. "We can't go around doing everything ourselves."

While they had returned to the ship, the other team – Zari, Mick, and John – had not yet come back. In fact, after sharing the good news of finding Ray with the team, there had been no sign of life from any of them. Sara did not worry too much. They stayed together and if something happened, Zari would definitely contact the Waverider to keep them informed on the latest developments.

"Hello?" a British voice said through the comms. "Can anyone hear me?"

Charlie and Sara exchanged a glance.

"Speaking of," Sara said, and she placed her hand to the comm. "John. Where the hell are you?"

"While you were bringing the boy scout to safety, we had an encounter with our fugitive." It sounded like he was trying to talk and catch his breath at the same time. Still, he continued. "I've got some good news and bad news. Good news, I know what it is."

"Is it a siren?" Charlie asked him, a smug grin on her face. She definitely got a kick out of knowing the fugitive's identity before John did and telling everyone before he could.

"How did you find out?" There was an annoyed undertone in his voice. Charlie's grin grew even wider.

"Ray talked about the music." That had been the final clue she had needed to figure it out. Of course, after narrowing down the options, the answer came more easily.

"What's the bad news?" Sara asked, as not to lose too much time. If it was truly bad, they could not waste any time.

"It's got Mick and Zari," John said. "At least half an hour now."

Half an hour? "Couldn't you contact us earlier?" Sara made sure not to sound too accusatory – there must be a good reason, otherwise he probably would have contacted them earlier.

"They attacked me. As much as I hate to back down from a fight, I had no choice but to retreat." Sara had the feeling John wasn't being completely honest. The way he spoke made her believe Mick and Zari, who were in the same situation as Ray had been, bested John in combat and that Constantine's pride did not allow him to admit this defeat. "I had to put as much distance between them and me before I could contact you."

"Where are you now?" Sara wanted to know.

"I'm on my way to the Waverider. I'll be there in a few minutes." He broke off the contact, possibly as not to be distracted while he hurried to the Waverider.

"Just great," Sara said with a sarcastic tone. They had Ray back, but now it had Mick and Zari!

Maybe she should be glad Ray survived and John wasn't taken by the siren. This knowledge gave them a solid change of fighting the fugitive and win. And to get Zari and Mick back, too.

* * *

Rip Hunter was ambling around in the Waverider and came into the bridge. He stopped at the console and found himself staring at it. Sara had already warned him that this ship may appear like this was his own Waverider. He hadn't been quite prepared to see so many similarities that it seemed like an identical copy.

And that felt wrong. From the moment he had set foot in the ship, something had felt off about it. With captain Lance and the other Legends preoccupied, he was free to inspect the multiple items that the captain had decided to keep in her office. It was the only non-private room on the ship he had not yet seen. He did not hesitate for one moment and walked up the three steps, entered the office and looked around.

What he saw only confirmed his suspicions that the Legends weren't telling him the truth. Rip saw many familiar items, items that he himself had collected over the years and had given their own unique place. Even the whiskey was stored in the same place he would store it! those Legends… Rip no longer believed they were working for a Time Bureau, or whatever they had claimed during their first meeting. They were definitely not working for the Time Masters. Whoever they were, he had a growing suspicion that they came from a future he had yet to see – how else did they have his Waverider in their possession?

Rip Hunter sat down in one of the comfortable chairs and let out a deep breath. There was something on this ship that could truly confirm everything he had just figured out.

"Gideon," he began and hesitated only for one moment. "Was I at one point your captain?"

Three seconds passed without an answer. And then came the moment of truth.  _"Yes, you were."_

Were. Something had happened to him and the Waverider had come into the Legends' hands.

Or they had stolen his ship. Or worse.

Whatever had happened, these people had lied to him, and he was going to confront them about it. He knew he could just as easily ask Gideon, but needed to hear it from them. They were the ones who needed to come clean to him. how else was he supposed to trust them with finding their fugitive?

Rip stayed in the captain's office and drank a glass of scotch. He had no idea how much time passed, but he knew that when John Constantine returned, they were going to meet in the bridge. Just a couple of steps away from him. He needed not to go to them because they came to him.

As he predicted, Sara and Charlie arrived on the bridge. Not much later, John arrived as well. From the conversation, he learned John managed to escape their fugitive – a legitimate siren – while Zari and Mick had been captivated, much like Ray before they fished him out of the river. Interesting as it was, he had to know the truth. Rip stood up from that comfortable chair and walked out of the captain's office, his hand on his belt and his eyes glaring daggers at the team, which turned their heads to him as soon as they saw him coming.

"There you are!" John said. "Have you been sitting there this entire time? Maybe you should have—"

What Rip should have done according to John may never be known. Rip's hand moved to his six-shooter and pulled it, aiming for the group and not explicitly one single person. He could still easily change targets and fire in the blink of an eye. Hopefully, this would make them more honest.

"Woah!" Charlie said. she had not expected Rip to act in such a hostile way towards them. "Take it easy."

"Rip," Sara said, carefully taking a step towards him. She held up one hand towards him, while the other hung to her side. In Rip's paranoia, he imagined she was reaching for a hidden weapon. "Put down the gun."

Rip took a deep breath. "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but I am more than capable of recognizing my own Waverider. Now, tell me how you got it and who you truly are."

Sara briefly glanced at Charlie and John. Within a very short span of time, she now had to figure out what the best decision was in this moment. She easily made that decision.

"Okay, I will," Sara said calmly. She inched closer towards him. "But you have to put down the gun first."

Rip hesitated for a moment. Should he grant their request and give up his leverage for the truth he demanded? Should he insist on keeping the gun pointed at them? Whatever the choice Sara had presented to him, Charlie seemed to agree with it. John, on the other hand…

"Your family dies," John revealed in a moment of nonchalance. Sara briefly glared at him; he responded by shrugging his shoulders. What was she looking at? He would've found out one way or the other. It was best to get this over with as soon as possible to get back to the real threat: the siren.

"I don't believe that." Rip pointed the gun at John. Constantine seemed relaxed and not bothered by the six-shooter. He even took a step towards Rip, his hands in his pockets and his gaze on the Time Master. John spoke in a no-nonsense tone, serious and authoritative – a tone Rip would later use often around the Legends.

"Your family dies by the hands of Vandal Savage in 2166. You want your petty revenge but the Time Masters won't indulge you. So you assemble a team of Legends to kill him off. They stick around for a while and things go from bad to worse when you turn your back to them for only a few seconds and now there's a bloody siren walking around in Boston."

Rip shook his head. "Impossible." John turned his head to Sara, who was still glaring at him. Charlie shook her head at him disapprovingly.

"Are you out of your mind?" she said.

"What? He wanted to know the truth!" Sara let out a deep breath – sometimes John was just so unruly! – and then turned to Rip again. He still aimed their gun at them. There was one last thing that could make him accept the truth.

"This is your ship," Sara told the Time Master. "Gideon still considers you her captain. You can go ahead and ask her whether we are lying or not.

Rip glanced at the console. After a few moments, he reluctantly lowered the gun and turned to the console.

"Gideon," Rip said, his voice loud and clear, "show me my future."

_"Of course, captain."_

Gideon projected a hologram into the room. It showed images of what his future had in store for him. Gideon first showed him how Vandal Savage killed Miranda and Jonas. Then some sort of slideshow followed, showing him several key moments – each time several seconds of footage – of the Legends' journey, with a focus on Rip's life as the team leader and further encounters with the Legends, the Legion of Doom and the Time Bureau. It ended with Rip silently standing on his own in a deserted field, holding something in front of him, something that was just out of view. He looked at something high up in the sky with determination while the wind blew in his face. That was where Gideon stopped the slideshow.

Rip watched it with as much interest as Charlie did – they both had never seen these moments before and were shaken by the images. Rip turned to the three Legends standing next to him. Out of those three, he had only seen Sara consistently in the images, while John didn't show up until the end. Charlie did not show up at all, but her twin sister might have been a Legend for a while, which would explain Charlie's presence.

"And you are those Legends?" Rip asked them – the name was dropped at the very beginning when he offered those people to join his crew.

"Yes, we are." Sara nodded and she folded her arms. Rip slowly nodded once.

"I… recruit all of you?" He glanced at every one of the three.

"Not all of us," Charlie shook her head.

"Ray, Mick and I are from the original crew," Sara explained. While it did make sense that some people – such as those Sara had not mentioned – would join at a later date, there was something Rip could not shake.

"I recruited Mick?" He wondered out loud.

"Yeah, you did," Sara nodded. "He's gotten better over the years."

Rip wanted to ask why he would want such a grumpy person like Mick to join his crew. And if this Mick has 'gotten better', how he was behaving in the beginning. In the end, Rip decided against asking and instead focused on the group he was facing and the problem at hand. They could sort this out later.

"I…" How do you say something like this? "I appreciate that you were trying to protect me from knowing too much about the future. But we can continue this conversation after we find your two friends."

Sara was happy with Rip's proposition – this kind of drama had only held them up and finding Zari and Mick, as well as the siren that took them, had the priority.

"It'll be easier this time around," John said – he too seemed to be glad this drama was over for now. "I put a tracking spell on Zari before they attacked. They're not far away from our current location."

"They're not?" Charlie asked. With the way John had described the 'battle', it surprised her he managed to cast the spell. What baffled her was that the siren seemed to be closing in on them.

"They've been moving closer to our location. All the easier for us to find them." John tilted his head and took a deep breath. "But the siren's with them." And it might try to lure them in as well. Which was a problem.

"We can't rush in without a plan," Rip said. the last two times, their teammates had been captured and Ray almost died.

"We'll make a good one," Sara said. She glanced at Rip and he was staring back at her as well. Together, they would have to come up with something great.

"Whatever it is, we can't hear anything," John said. "If you do, you'll likely end up like Zari and Rory." Because passively hearing the siren's music was enough to lure people in, and they wanted to avoid that.

"This is going to be tricky," Rip said and he sighed. Why did he agree to go investigate this disappearance?

"Then let's make a quick plan before she tries to drown them, too," Sara said. That was enough to motivate the team she had to come up with a good strategy to fight the siren and to break Zari and Mick free from the spell that had been placed on them.


	5. Downtown

It was eerily silent around them. It was as if some deity had silenced the winds and birds and everything else unanimously decided to hold their breath and not make any noise on this beautiful but cold November morning. But the world around them was just as loud as it ever was – John's spell had made them deaf to ensure they would not become the siren's victims themselves while they tried to rescue Zari and Mick. Especially Ray found the silence comforting; he didn't feel like falling for the siren for a second time and, despite having the spell placed on him, he wore earplugs just in case it stopped working at the most inopportune moments. Everything could always go wrong, and that was not a risk Ray was willing to take.

Sara had decided to suit up when Ray did. While they waited for him to finish suiting up, Sara quickly put on her own canary suit before they left the Waverider.

Constantine had cast the spell that made them deaf before they set foot in Boston again. All Legends knew the plan and they were ready to execute it. John also led the group – he was the one who could track Zari, and as such the person who could locate the siren.

It was strange to walk around without hearing anything. It did not make you smell any better or see any sharper, but it was their only safeguard against their enemy. They now had to rely on their sight and they could no longer communicate properly. If anyone saw something suspicious, they had to tap on each other's shoulders to alert them to the danger. They all looked around and only progressed slowly through the streets. Nobody dared to walk faster than anyone else and their eyes never rested on something for longer than a couple of seconds, so that they would not be snuck up on by the siren and the two lackeys in need of saving.

Eventually, they arrived at a narrower street. John stopped and everyone else did, too. Their heartbeats jumped up and even though they wanted to look around hastily to find out what John stopped for, they took their time. He turned his head to the right and the others followed suit.

There was a street on their right that ended in the road they were on now. In that street stood the siren, accompanied by Zari and Mick. The two Legends had neutral expressions on their face while the siren grinned widely. It had some strange features John and Ray had not noticed before. White eyes without pupils stared into the soul and razor-sharp teeth were visible in its grin.

The siren was hungry and it was going to first gather some more victims before chowing down on them.

Zari raised her arm at the same time when Mick raised his gun and they initiated an attack. John, Sara, and Ray ran to the left side of the street while Rip and Charlie were left on the right side, both groups hiding from the attack just around the corner.

It was strange not to hear the wind whistle as it just missed them or the crackling fire of Mick's gun. The two were relentless in their attacks and were not interested in stopping or slowing down. At this moment, with limited oversight of the street, it was bothersome that Rip could not hear what was going. As he glimpsed around the corner he only spotted Zari trying to direct the winds around that corner to blow them all away – literally. At least she wasn't sucking the air out of their lungs – could she even do that?

Rip decided, based on mostly right assumptions, that Zari was the more dangerous opponent out of the two and so, he aimed his six-shooter at her. it would not hurt her indefinitely. It would only sting and possibly stun them if the siren didn't make it so that they were protected from being stunned.

His eye fell on the Legends across the street. The three – John, Sara, and Ray – were motioning at one another. From what Rip could see from his side of the street, they might try to circle around them for as far as it was possible. John would stand behind the siren to send it to hell. Rip had never seen the man in action, so he had no idea what to imagine was going to happen.

Life was so much simpler without knowing what strange magic and creatures were in the world.

Rip turned his head and looked at Charlie. She, too, had spotted the last-minute discussion among the Legends. It was probably up to them to distract the siren and its lackeys.

Rip swiftly moved his gun from his first target – Zari – and aimed at the siren. He fired an energy bolt in the hope that, upon impact, it would have been stunned. That would be the best case scenario.

Unfortunately, the Legends did not often come across best-case scenarios in this line of work. Rip had hit the siren in its chest, but it only looked down at the place of impact and then glared at Rip. The Time Master had angered it, and now Zari and Mick only paid attention to Rip. The good news was that this would enable Sara and John to circle the three. The bad news was that Rip had become enemy number one.

It was Charlie, Ray, and Rip against Zari and Mick. Ray shrunk down and flew around, agitating Zari and Mick while Charlie and Rip tried to stop and defeat them. As expected, the siren only had eyes for Rip, allowing for John and Sara to bolt past it (and, so, circled it). Sara was going to protect John, as far as that was possible, while the others would continue to distract their attackers.

Rip only glanced away from Mick for a second at a time. In what felt like only moments, he witnessed John attempting to send the siren to hell. The master of the occult made some strange consecutive hand movements and he must've said something as well. Some horizontal orange vortex appeared from the hand motions and was directed by John towards the siren.

It knew what John was trying to do. It struggled to stay on its feet, holding on to whatever it could. Mick and Zari instantly turned around and turned their attention to John and Sara. Rip and Charlie did not stop attacking the two lackeys, hoping that it would still slow them down. Sara took her chance and knocked out Mick, but Zari seemed a more competent opponent than Mick. Only the combined effort of Ray and Sara made them win from her as well.

The siren's efforts were useless now. It had lost hope and rather than accepting defeat, it allowed itself to be sucked into the vortex.

* * *

John sat on the ground. He allowed himself to rest, for summoning that vortex always left him exhausted. He allowed himself to look around. Zari and Mick were lying on the ground, unconscious because of injury or because the siren's influence just fell away. Their link to the siren had been broken off so severely that they just fainted. They were free again.

Remembering that the Legends would probably want their hearing back, John lifted the spell he had previously placed on them. the everyday sounds of Boston were deafening compared to the relative quiet they spent the last half an hour in. The city seemed to come alive again and the Legends immediately took advantage of this situation.

"Is everyone okay?" Sara asked. Ray nodded in response – he had gone to Mick to check up on him and now sat next to Zari.

"They are okay," he told the group, and then turned his attention to Zari again.

Rip looked at every one of them. whether he was just so exhausted or not, they could not tell. But he lifted his thumb in the air to let them know he was fine. John couldn't blame the man for being shocked about what just had happened. Rip just wasn't meant to deal with this kind of problems.

But it was over. The siren's terror was over. Which meant Rip was going to have to go back home soon.


	6. Goodbye

On their way back to the Legends' Waverider, Rip did not say a word. Mick was grumpy because he'd been tricked by a Fugitive, something John would probably bring up later much to Mick's displeasure. You didn't listen when the Siren attacked, and look what happened! Zari and Ray were talking as well – her mind and thoughts having been overridden, it was taking a mental toll on her. Ray tried to make her feel better by distracting her from the experience he also previously had to endure.

Sara and Charlie did not speak. Charlie listened to what Ray was telling Zari, and Sara was occupied with trying to keep John from pestering Mick too much and to make sure Mick wouldn't impulsively harm John for it. They did not make conversation with the Waverider's true captain. During this short walk, he had a frown on his face and was deep in thought. Sara wouldn't want to interrupt his train of thoughts.

The Waverider came into sight, Gideon turning off the reflector shields that made it look invisible when the Legends were far enough away. John did not stick around to say a proper goodbye – he barely knew the man, anyway. Mick also rushed into the Waverider; he did not want to say goodbye to the captain again. That, and he never really liked the guy. The others waited outside and watched Rip, not knowing whether this would truly be the last time that they would see him.

Rip himself stopped walking when he spotted the Waverider in all her glory. He stared at it, let out a deep breath and then turned his gaze to the remaining Legends.

"I guess this is it," he said. There was a short pause where nobody spoke. None of them had any idea of what to say, or whether they had to say anything at all. But they at least stayed silent long enough for Rip to know they weren't going to respond and so, he continued talking.

"If I'm being honest, I still can't believe I picked you to be my crew—"

"We're not very important in our current timelines," Ray explained. It no longer hurt to acknowledge this. At least they were important to the timeline in general as the guardian.

"Ah," Rip said. A smile spread across his face as if the mysteries of the universe had just been revealed to him. The smile faded slightly and when he looked at the group, he felt nothing but respect for them. The Legends could see it in his eyes.

"I don't know what happened prior to this meeting, but you… you're quite the team. Bold and loyal. It will be my honor to know you."

"You don't think that initially," Sara said.

Rip grinned modestly. "I don't doubt that. Good luck with the rest of the Fugitives." He turned away from them and took the first few steps towards his own Waverider when he realized he still had something to ask them. He turned his body to them again and looked at Sara.

"We haven't met each other like this before, have we?"

Like this. Non-chronologically according to the timeline of their personal hectic lives as protectors of time. Sara nodded.

"It's the first time."

Rip nodded once. "Goodbye. See you next time."

"Goodbye, Rip," Sara said. Rip then no longer hesitated and walked away from the Legends. He did not look behind him once while the Legends watched him leave until he was completely out of sight. Rip Hunter became just a memory again.

"Didn't you have to erase his memory?" Charlie asked. "He shouldn't know you at this point, right?"

Sara shook her head. She didn't have to do it. She could not do it. If she could, she would have to walk him to his Waverider, where his Gideon would probably remember her face. If they did it here, in front of the Legends' Waverider, they would not have enough time to board it and fly away. Rip would awake before they had left. Besides, Rip was bold enough to take up the device.

"And he won't know us," Sara said. That was all she had to say about it. The remaining Legends entered the Waverider and left Boston and Rip Hunter behind them.

* * *

Rip returned to his Waverider. He looked around fondly as he marched in. He quite liked the new design, but he definitely preferred his Waverider as it looked in his present, not his supposed future. He could not imagine the new design would have been a conscious choice he'd make.

Even though he had known these people for mere hours, it somehow felt natural to imagine them on this ship – possibly because he's seen them on the ship. The Waverider was never meant to be manned by just the one person. These Legends fit in well, even though they could be best described as a group that was sloppily put together and was more dysfunctional than functional. And yet they made it work. Somehow.

Rip sat down in the captain's chair and stared outside the front window, looking at the Boston skyline. It did not take long before he and ship were back inside the time stream. He walked to the captain's office

"Gideon, delete all files about the latest mission." He poured himself some whiskey.

_"Are you certain?"_

"Positive," he answered, taking a big sip. He was going to need this. with the glass still in his hand, he rummaged through his office. He must've left it in here somewhere… he really should try to be a bit more organized.

 _"All files deleted,"_  Gideon said as soon as he found the memory eraser. He quickly finished his drink and made his way back to the captain's chair. He sat down, looking at the piece of equipment. He took a deep breath. This is it, then.

"Gideon, do not under any circumstances tell me what happened during this mission. Tell me it's classified. I cannot know what happened in Boston, 2003."

 _"Of course, captain."_  There was some sort of melancholy in her voice as if she knew something had happened. She may not know the details, but she did realize it had to be important and potentially time-breaking if he remembered.

He wasted no more time and flashed himself, the memories of this adventure forever lost to him.


End file.
